Condo Living Made Easy

Cook County recently mailed the 2009-second installment tax bills.  These bills will be due and payable on December 13, 2010.

You may recall the 2009 1^st installment bill was payable on March 1, 2010 and was an estimated bill (55% of last year's bill).  The balance due for 2009 is reflected on the 2^nd installment bill recently mailed.
 
If the 2009 bill is higher than 2008, it may be the result of:

• a record 13.4% increase in the Cook County equalizer;
  
• an increase in the local tax rate;
• a decrease in the homeowner exemption because the 7% assessment cap is being phased down by State statue and/or;
• an increase in the assessment (Chicago was re-assessed for the 2009 tax year).

The computation of the 2009 taxes will appear on the right-hand side of the second installment tax bill.  Unit Owners should be sure to verify they have obtained all exemptions they are entitled to.  If they have not received all exemptions they are entitled to, they will need to contact the Cook County Assessor's Office to correct this.

Courtesy of Elliott & Associates, P.C.
Real Estate Tax Appeals

I've been preparing budgets for a number of new clients lately, and I'm often finding that assessments have been charged in the past do not correspond accurately to the ownership percentages recorded in the association's Declaration.

When I purchased my first condo and prepared my first budget as Treasurer for the building, I noticed that some owners' assessments increased while others decreased.  The only reason for this to happen is if the original assessments have not been calculated based on ownership percentage, as they should be.  If the total budget increases 10%, each owner's assessments should increase 10%.  It's simply math.

Every time a budget is prepared, the ownership percentages should be checked against the Declaration to ensure that owners are being charged correctly, particularly if you are a new Treasurer.   This will ensure that every owner pays in their proper share. 

If your Declaration or By-Laws contain an "acceleration clause", you may be able to charge future assessments to owners who are in collections.

The standard language of an acceleration clause states that an association may accelerate the maturity date of assessments due for the remainder of the calendar or fiscal year and apply them to a delinquent owner's account.  If you are pursuing legal collection action against a delinquent owner, an acceleration clause allows you to charge the owner's account now for assessments that will be due in future months, and possibly obtain a judgment for those amounts.  This can save the association additional legal fees when assessments continue to go unpaid through the remainder of the year.

Consult your governing documents to determine if this remedy is available to your association.

A client recently discovered that some of the real estate taxes for parking spaces owned by association members had been sold.  As it turns out, the owners never updated the mailing addresses on their tax bills, and the bills were still going to the developer.

All owners should take the necessary steps to update the mailing address on their real estate tax bill to ensure that they receive a bill each year and to confirm that the bill has been paid, even if your mortgage company is paying your taxes through an escrow account.  Address changes must be made both for units and for parking spaces, if your parking space is deeded separately with its own PIN.

To update your mailing address, visit the Cook County Treasurer's website.  You'll need your PIN (you can find it by searching your address on the Cook County Assessor's website).  Select Payment--> Payment Status, enter your PIN and from the Mailing Information section, select "To update your mailing address, click here."  You will need to complete the form, have it notarized, and send it to the Cook County Treasurer.